Cellular biosensors for the identification of fetal hemoglobin inducers

The development of cellular systems for the screening of molecules able to induce the production of fetal or adult hemoglobin in crythroid cells isolated from beta-thalassemia patients is very important for the identification of molecules of interest for pharmacological therapy of thalassemia. This article reports the development of a cellular system for the identification of inducers of fetal hemoglobin preferentially acting on the human gamma-globin gene promoter. To achieve this aim, green and red fluorescence protein genes were cloned under the control of gamma-globin and beta-globin promoters, respectively. The developed K562 clones were tested for the increase of fluorescence after treatment with sodium butyrate and hydroxyurea, two well-known inducers of fetal hemoglobin.